December 25th 2018 was the last “best” Christmas the world knew.
Oh, Christmas celebrations continued, as well as New Years day, Thanksgiving and all the rest. People still gather in smaller groups to have remembrances. They still exchange some gifts at Christmas, and have prayer services. They do the best they can under the circumstances.
And what are those circumstances, you may ask?
Those circumstances include a world in which it’s hard to find comfort. A world of constant storms and natural disasters. A world in which there are no great democracies left. The United States ceased to be a world power sometime around 2020. France devolved into nationalistic chaos, Great Britain diminished after falling on it’s “Brexit” sword. China and Russia rose to fill the power vacuum left after the US/Iranian and Israeli War.
The Great World Depression of 2019 had set the stage for all the above events to take place.
The stock market plunged in the United States early in 2019 due to political and economic factors, and the rest of world followed. There was a lot of famine and civil strife throughout the world. Revolutions took place, and coups were common.
In the United States itself, militia groups ran rampant for months on end, until the Federal government declared martial law and the US army went into the countryside and forcefully quelled the revolts. They also bombed most urban areas which had also been taken over by mostly minority militia groups. America ended up as a shell of its former self.
The world as we knew it before 2018 was forever gone. The freedoms for which thousands of American citizens had fought and died for almost 250 years were abolished. Authoritarian rule became the norm.
So, remember this year when you’re unwrapping your gifts with your family. When you’re eating your Christmas turkey. When you’re wishing your loved ones a Happy New Years. Perhaps we should remember the words of Ebenzer Scrooge when he confronted the Ghost of Christmas future about whether or not the future could be changed:
Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!”
Writing for Sanity's Sake 